The contaminated
Carmans River
got a step cleaner
when Brookhaven Town
officials enacted
new requirements to
reduce the
concentration of
nitrogen in surface
and groundwater that
are stricter than
Suffolk County’s
standards.

Co-sponsored by
Brookhaven Town
Supervisor Ed
Romaine and
Councilwoman Connie
Kepert, the
amendment to the
town code was
unanimously approved
by the town board
last week. The town
held a public
hearing about it on
Tuesday.
Environmentalists,
civic leaders and
elected officials
hailed the action
because it means
that Brookhaven has
become the first
town on Long Island
to have waste-water
treatment standards
of 3
parts-per-million
per liter, which is
more stringent than
the 10
parts-per-million
level currently
allowed by the
county’s health
department—an amount
seen as woefully
inadequate given the
imperiled health of
the Island’s crucial
waterways.

The rules apply to
all properties with
existing or future
septic systems in
the intermediate
flow category, which
means producing
between 1,000 and
30,000 gallons a day
of waste water. On
average a septic
system for a
single-family
household processes
about 300 to 400
gallons a day.
Coming under this
amended code are
businesses,
apartments, condos
and planned
retirement
communities.
Developers of new
construction have to
comply immediately,
but owners of
existing properties
have 10 years or
they’ll face fines
of $500 or more.
Only about a dozen
buildings and two
privately owned
sewage-treatment
systems are
reportedly affected
by the town’s
action.

“Existing state and
county standards
allowing sewage
treatment plants to
discharge 10 parts
per million of
nitrogen are not
protective of the
Carmans River
ecosystem,” said
Romaine in a
statement. “Our new,
stringent standard
would offer greater
protection, and
result in the
long-term
conservation of the
river and its water
quality for the
benefit of current
and future
generations.”

The move grew out of
a recommendation
from the Carmans
River Conservation
and Management Plan,
approved by the town
board in October
2013, which called
for a new
science-based
standard for
effluent from medium
flow sewage
treatment plants to
protect the river’s
ecosystem from the
harmful effects of
too much nitrogen
including harmful
algae growth, the
proliferation of
non-native aquatic
plants, low
dissolved oxygen
levels and other
ecosystem changes
caused by an excess
of nitrogen.

“I’m thrilled,”
Kevin McAllister,
president of Sag
Harbor-based
environmental
advocacy group,
Defend H20, told the
Press. A
long-time advocate
for tougher sewage
treatment to offset
the county’s
antiquated septic
systems, McAllister
praised Romaine for
going beyond the
county’s health
standard to take
into consideration
the watershed’s
ecology. “Ed’s been
tremendous on this
issue, going back to
his tenure in the
county legislature.”

McAllister and
other activists are
hoping that the five
towns on the East
End will follow
Brookhaven’s
lead—and maybe their
example will
influence Long
Island’s two
counties.

“I can’t tell you
how many times I’m
at these planning
board and town board
meetings where these
developments are
coming in and
they’re still
including the
conventional septic
systems that the
county approves!”
said McAllister.

MaryAnn Johnston,
president of the
Affiliated
Brookhaven Civic
Organization [ABCO],
credits McAllister
as “a driving force”
in his effort to
“actually get the
town off the dime”
and finally adopt
this new
sewage-system
requirement in the
18,000-acre Carmans
River watershed,
which includes all
of the 100-year
groundwater
contributing area (a
measurement of where
the flow would take
that long to
eventually reach the
river).

“For a very long
time the town was
extremely resistant
to doing it because
they were continuing
to tell us they
could not override
Suffolk County,”
said Johnston. “We
gave them case law
that showed them
that the Court of
Appeals said that
indeed you can.”

As Pine Barrens
Society Executive
Director Richard
Amper explained,
under state law, “if
a municipality wants
to be more
protective, then it
is entitled to [do
so.]”

Amper views this
amendment as an
important first
step.

“The river isn’t
going to get clear
any time soon,”
Amper explained, but
“this is a good
start, especially if
it catches on with
other towns… We know
that we have too
much nitrogen for
the groundwater to
support, so we have
to reduce nitrogen
and this is a good
way to do it.”

He’s hoping the
state will also get
in the act, noting
that last year the
Assembly passed a
bill sponsored by
former Assemb.
Robert Sweeney
(D-Lindenhurst) that
would have lowered
the effluent
standards to the
level Brookhaven
just approved but
the state Senate
never even brought
it to the floor for
a vote, much to the
disappointment of
its co-sponsor,
state Sen. Ken
LaValle (R-Port
Jefferson).

“We want a watershed
specific discharge
standard for every
watershed, based on
how contaminated
that water is at the
location,” Amper
said.

That Brookhaven—a
town with a
challenging
environmental
record—should now
take the lead on
watershed protection
is especially
gratifying to an
activist like
McAllister, who
called it
“tremendous” and “a
feather in their
cap.” He wants
Suffolk County
Executive Steve
Bellone to take
notice.

“Essentially when
we’re dealing with
un-sewered areas in
Suffolk County,”
explained
McAllister, “this
should be the law of
the land.”

And there’s a reason
Long Island’s
watersheds could use
some help with
nitrogen relief.